The regional Small Business Development Center Network for Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties is helping businesses prepare for something they hope will never happen: a disaster.
Administered by Cal State Fullerton’s Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, the network’s seven centers are now offering continuity training to help small businesses anticipate, prepare and recover in the case of a natural disaster.
The Seismic Safety Commission grant awarded $220,000 to fund the effort.
“The focus is to help businesses plan how they will respond both during and after, say a large earthquake,” said Michael Daniel, director of the CSUF Small Business Development Center. “We’re helping business owners develop individualized disaster preparedness plans that are best suited for their business and operations.”
The college is developing a curriculum for the trainings, as well as a five-minute video that will be shown at trainings. The college is also training SBDC consultants so that they are prepared, beyond the training, to offer one-on-one consulting and to aid business leaders in assessing risks, said Daniel.
CSUF and other SBDC centers throughout the state are expected to conduct 420 trainings to more than 10,000 individuals as part of serving the needs of 65,000 small businesses this year. At the end of the yearlong project, members of the CA SBDC Leadership Council and the Seismic Safety Commission will review the effort, discuss outcomes and successes.
E-File/E-Pay Training
In addition to the disaster continuity training, CSUF’s Small Business Development network is offering training on the use of e-file and e-pay systems. The training will help small businesses to meet a new 2017 state law that requires all employers to electronically submit employment tax returns, wage reports and payroll tax deposits to the Employment Development Department.
About
Cal State Fullerton’s Mihaylo College of Business and Economics has been responsible for the administration of a lead and regional centers for Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties since 2003, providing training, consulting and technical assistance to businesses with less than 500 employees.
The Orange County/Inland Empire Small Business Development Center Network is headquartered in Room 4157 of Mihaylo Hall on the Cal State Fullerton campus, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, 92831. Assistance services are provided at the following locations:
Orange County SBDC
Rancho Santiago Community College
2323 N. Broadway, Suite 201
Santa Ana, 92706
714-564-5200
http://www.ocsbdc.com
OC Hispanic SBDC
2130 E. 4th St. #160
Santa Ana, 92705
714-953-4289
http://ochispanicsbdc.com/
LaunchPad SBDC
OCTANe
65 Enterprise
Aliso Viejo, 92656
949-330-6565
http://www.octaneoc.org
Inland Empire SBDC
3780 Market St.
Riverside, CA 92501
951-781-2345
http://www.iesmallbusiness.com
TriTech SBDC
152 E. 6th St.
Corona, CA 92879
951-571-6477
http://www.tritechsbdc.org/
Coachella Valley SBDC
44-199 Monroe St,, Suite B
Indio, CA 92201
760-863-2529
http://cvsbdc.com/
Additional information is available online.